Thursday, April 29, 2010

Here are the lovely ladies I painted with yesterday, less one. From l-r, the lovely Liz Maness, www.lizmaness.com, who was the hostess with the mostest, Kathy Perales, www.kathyperales.com, current president of the New Braunfels Art League, www.newbraunfelsartleague.com, and Jean Crow, www.jeancrow.blogspot.com, current Artist of the Year with NBAL. Pat Haberman, http://pathaberman.com, managed to get away before I could gather everyone for a photo.Liz had a wonderful meal already prepared with the most delicious pimento cheese and the best pumpernickel bread ever, along with some delicious Swiss chard from her very own garden. It was a great day!!!

Yesterday several of us met at the beautiful home of Liz Maness, www.lizmaness.com, for an "art" day. After a tour of her lovely garden, we got busy painting. It wasn't easy choosing from all there was to offer but I settled on the beautiful potted geraniums on Liz's deck. 8x10, original, oil on board

I absolutely love our native persimmon trees. Their smooth, gray trunks & branches catch the light and glisten as if they were polished silver. Their growth habits also add to their beauty. In my opinion, they are one of the most beautiful little trees in all of Texas! This one was done en plein air but I took MANY photos of others and am planning a series of persimmon tree studies. As a side note, this was a wonderful day, with the exception of the rattlesnake that less than welcomed us as we unloaded our gear! Thank God it rattled or it would have been a very bad day for one of us!

Here is a painting of a small building at the Rockwall Ranch in New Braunfels. It was so charming that I had to paint it. The weather was perfect and the day was beautiful and relaxing. I walked around to see what the other artists were painting and found that one was painting me while I was painting this little building. It was so cool!6x8, original, oil on board

This little painting was done at the San Antonio Botanical Gardens. Our fall and spring rains made all of Texas burst into bloom! I encourage you to visit your area botanical gardens. Ours is so very beautiful this year!6x8, original, oil on board